


red sky in morning

by KeanBlade



Series: color in red [4]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Character Study, F/M, Gen, M/M, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-09 17:02:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19891279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeanBlade/pseuds/KeanBlade
Summary: how a world without Tobirama grows and changes





	1. Chapter 1

Izuna had never learned to live with regret. It was stupid, he should have; he had had plenty of time to learn after all. But it ate at him; he kept looking around corners for his brother, wondering when Madara had fallen in love and how he hadn’t noticed, wondering if his clan would be better off if he was more active in the clan council (wondering if things would have been better if a different brother had died that day) but he was too selfish to do more than wonder and regret. (his eyes ached on rainy days)

Izuna never really could bring himself to love peace. He knew it was good, it wasn’t like he wanted to stand over anymore small graves and see weeping parents; he knew his clan was better off now. But. but. in the days of war things had been clearer; the enemy was the enemy and you always knew who they were when they wore another clan’s sigil, you lived hard when you weren’t in battle and never worried much about consequences, you used your eyes until you went blind and then you died in battle or helped run the clan, (now, now everything is different. The enemy might eat at your table and call itself your friend, you had to think on what tomorrow might bring before you acted today, eyes hardy mattered) but he couldn’t seem to make himself change enough to keep up. (his brother still loved him then)

Izuna tried to make himself useful, he couldn’t sit idle. He did what he could; he went on missions, he sat on the council, he gave advice to the Hokage even when he couldn’t look him in the eyes. But it was never enough; the Senju woman left, his big brother left, Hashirama left, (he came back but never was the same and never took up the hat again, Izuna did his best but he knew it was half hearted at best and didn’t last long before he too stepped aside) and war came again anyway. (he was almost glad)

Izuna tried to fight as well as he once did, but he wasn’t what he once was. His platoon needed him and he did his best to fight them off; he sent them on ahead so he could defend their back- he should have been enough, Torifu Akimichi was already dead, Koharu Utatane would probably die from her wounds, (he may not have been close to them but children dying _hurt_ , he hadn’t realized how much before) and in the end his eyes gave out first. (he wondered if the others made it back)


	2. shinobi’s warning

Kagami has seen more heartbreak than he had ever wanted to know. So many of the people he loved fell pray to pain they couldn’t beat. It never stopped hurting; Madara-oniisama was the worst for him with all that came after, Matsui died in childbirth and never knew her children, Hashirama followed his daughter into death and left behind his wife, and grandchildren, (Mito-sama remained unbroken but she had always been the strongest and most willing to turn with the wind) and Kagami tried his best to keep what he had left strong. (he loved his people)

Kagami had seen the way the villagers looked at the small Mizuchi family, all of them strange and different. Kagami _knew_ different; Tobirama-oniisama had been different- albino, Kagami was different- calm and cheerful unlike his clan, different was what he knew best. So he reached out; they were so painfully surprised, they were shocked when he wasn’t afraid of their bloodline gifts, and no one would look at them wrong when Kagami walked with them, (why was so much of the world awful? Why did people revert to cruelty when uncertain?), so Kagami did his best to make things better for them. (Tobirama-oniisama would have loved their clever son)

Kagami took on students at Mito-sama’s suggestion, well, “suggestion” because Tsunade needed a sensei. She was a good kid, all the best bits of her grandmother and her Hatake father and honestly he wanted to be for some child what Tobirama-oniisama had been for him. So he took them on: Tsunade with her well hidden fragile heart, Orochimaru the last of the Mizuchi family and far to intelligent for most people, and flighty Jiraiya, (they made him nervous, he could see the fault lines in their team, so close and always close to falling apart- if Tsunade’s heart was broken, if Orochimaru who couldn’t understand people, if Jiraiya was careless with the people he loved) he tried his best to help each of them as best he could and help them grow strong and straight. (he was so, so afraid he would fail them)

Kagami took care with his life, his students needed him badly and his death might be the thing that broke them. He was careful, he took all precautions, he was always armed and never took too many risks. It wasn’t enough; war has a way of killing anyone not matter the care, he died in blood and mud, and he was so afraid for Orochimaru who called him Oniisama, (he had raised Oro after his parents died, had shown him love and care and that he wasn’t _wrong_ for being the way he was- he told Oro about Tobirama who was different and strange and wrong and so, so, loved) Oro who held him as he died and cried confused tears. (the happuri once again went to Mito, who wept when she was alone)


	3. red sky at night

Tsunade knew that Kagami-sensei had been afraid for them and she hated that he had been right. The day after he died Jiraiya wandered off after a new crusade and she and Orochimaru faced Hanzo without him. They would have died except for Sakumo Hatake; they were loosing- they weren’t used to trying to fight with out Jiraiya yet, and then Konoha’s White Fang was there blocking the blow that would have killed Orochimaru, and Orochimaru look stunned- more so than she had ever seen before, (she didn’t know if it was Sakumo’s sudden presence or the fact that someone had protected him- somewhat to her shame no one had ever done that before) and then they were fighting together and the two of them moved like they had never known another partner. (she was a bit jealous)

Tsunade knew when she fell in love it would be hard and fast. She was completely correct. When she met Dan everything changed; he was everything she had ever wished for and he seemed to understand her, she told him about the granduncle she had never met and the whole of her family history, she was so glad they met when they did, (she needed someone after Jiraiya and the sudden ascent to jounin status, and if she had met him later maybe she would never have seen him take the hat) and they dreamed about the better future they would make for Konoha. (she should have learned about dreaming from her grandfather)

Tsunade wanted to see the world around her grow into what she saw in Dan’s eyes. She wanted to see the people she loved happy and in love as she was- she was pretty sure Orochimaru was. She wanted many things; medics on every team, her grandmother without the stress of holding Konoha together, the Uchiha content with their place, (like every living Senju she had always felt that the Uchiha should be treated well for Tobirama’s sake given how he loved Madara, her clan still remembered even as everyone else forgot) and she was going to make the world what she wanted. (she was young)

Tsunade wants to see what it looks when Orochimaru blushes, she still hasn’t seen it. If she saw it, if other people saw it, maybe they would see he was every bit as human as the rest of them. She wants people to be _better_ ; she wants her brother to grow old, she wants no child to fight young, she wants to see what happens to the student she and Orochimaru share- honestly Minato was adorable, (she wants to never see Mito polishing the happuri again and let it sit on the shrine) she wants to feast on life. (she found that starvation was easier)


	4. shinobi’s delight

Minato loved Konoha, he did, even with everything wrong with it he loved it. It hurt sometimes to love it, Konoha wasn’t kind to orphans. But he tried to find a new thing to love about it every day; He loved the sunrise from the cliff, he loved the sent of the trees, he loved the energy and the wonderful verity of people, (so many clans in one place! And each of them with a different way of seeing the world) he loved that he could find new things to love even when he felt it didn’t love him back. (he loved it and it _hurt him_ )

Minato loved his family, the ones that chose him and loved him. They didn’t have to care for him, he wasn’t necessary, but they chose him and he chose them back. And they were the most amazing people in the whole of Konoha: Mito-baasama who was the strongest person ever, Tsunade-oneesan who took him as her student and play fought- well “play” fought- Orochimaru-niisan for him, Orochimaru-niisan who held him quietly when Minato couldn’t find it in him to love Konoha, (and he loved the stories they told him of Tobirama-sama all from different perspectives) he _knew_ they loved him back. (but he learned the other side of love at Mito-baasama’s knee)

Minato wept when Mito-baasama died and all of Konoha wept with him. She was the last piece of a world that was ending and Minato couldn’t help that feel Tobirama-sama died again when the last person that knew him did. He held the happuri Mito-baasama had given him before she died in his hands and looked at the way the light caught it- he took it home and changed the Senju mark to the symbol of Konoha. He remembered everything Mito-baasama had told him about grief and let it swirl around him; he wasn’t a of Uzushino but he wasn’t of anywhere so he felt it was fair, he wanted to be like her, he wanted to let grief bear him up into the next day and the day after and the day after, (It was a lesson dearly needed later) so he polished the happuri and then he put it on. (Orochimaru-niisan smiled to see him wear it even as Tsunade-oneesan cried)

Minato wept when he met Kushina again. He hadn’t seen her in sometime after both of them had left the academy, she had been amazing then and had always corrected the teachers when they tried to teach about Tobirama-sama’s death, now he knew why, even though the teachers hadn’t believed her. He wept because she came back into his life feet first and it hurt; she did everything in life like that- feet first and all in, fighting with her was like dancing a Uchiha’s fire dance and loving her felt like fighting the wind, she lifted him up and he _loved_ her, (so, so, much. Not more than anything, he had enough love in his heart to love everything he cared for and not need to compare amounts) she was his future and he knew it then and there. (she was is future and their son his fate)


	5. red is the sky

Sakumo had been surprised by Kakashi. A good surprise! The best really, but, still, surprised. His mother had been a medic he met on the battlefield that was as interested in a few nights of human comfort as he was. Two days later he met Orochimaru and everything changed for him; Orochimaru was lovely as any blade- all sleek lines and flashing steal, Orochimaru was fierce as any wolf- all bared teeth and unflinching protection, Orochimaru was the thing he always hoped for- clever and true and stunning, (Sakumo knew he had to do everything in his power to convince Orochimaru that Sakumo was worthy of him even when he really, really, wasn’t) and Orochimaru watched him right back. (the old loneliness settled in his chest)

Sakumo had been surprised by Oro, and almost 8 months later there was Kakashi. The Ame shinobi that brought him the child told him his mother had died giving birth and the name his mother gave him: Kakashi. Oro, to his great relief, took to suddenly having a child with not only equanimity but also with quiet pleasure; Kagami had done the same for him he told Sakumo with Kakashi in his arms playing with his long dark hair, once he had thought he would never have a chance to have a family and now he had the last piece of it, Kakashi was a part of Sakumo and there was not part of him the Orochimaru could ever not but love, (he hid the slight blush on his cheeks behind the fall of his beautiful hair until Sakumo brushed it back so he could press a kiss to his pale cheek) and gods but Sakumo was lucky. (he was, but luck can run out)

Sakumo fought for his family with all the strength in him and for a while he thought that would be enough. It looked like they were winning, Dan was a good Hokage and the Konoha shinobi were so much stronger than any other county. And then it changed; Dan died- he should never even been out on the field but his help had been desperately needed, and Tsunade’s fragile heart wavered, Oro spent hours holding her as she sobbed, (coming so soon after Mito-sama’s death it was too painful for her to bear well, as she tried to be there for her brother and help pick the next Hokage- Oro had wanted it at one point but he said he needed to be with his family, they ignored how much time he spent on the front lines) and trying to keep their world stable. (it didn’t work)

Sakumo fought when they tried to drag him away from his mate. He wouldn’t leave him, he wouldn’t, not when everyone else had. He was not going to leave him; Kagami had left him for death, Jiraiya had left him for who knows what, Tsunade had left him to run from her grief after her brother died, (and now he was leaving Sakumo. Sakumo and Kakashi and Minato and none of them would ever be the same without him) and Sakumo would not be one of those people; not until he fainted from blood loss. (he followed after his love before too long)


End file.
